


How They Perceive You

by cuddlequxxn



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, i hope lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 06:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9167245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlequxxn/pseuds/cuddlequxxn
Summary: It had been four years since Ladybug and Chat Noir had been seen together. The akumas have stopped and haven't plagued Paris for four years. Marinette is an intern at Gabriel that works all day, while Ladybug roams the skies lonely and missing her partner during the night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first Miraculous Ladybug Fic!!!  
> I hope you like it

_It has been about four years since Paris has seen the iconic superhero duo Ladybug and Chat Noir together. Ladybug occasionally roams the skies in the late hours of the night. Neither superhero has been seen with their partner in years, and no one is aware if a falling out occurred or if their civilian lives have gotten in the way of their superheroing ones._

_Alongside the disappearance of Chat Noir came the disappearance of the hated Akuma. We don’t know if these events are mutually exclusive or not, but Paris sleeps easy knowing that they won’t be possessed by a hauntingly dangerous purple and black butterfly if a bad day rolls around._

_The citizens of Paris anxiously await the return of their favorite crime fighting duo together once again._

_~ The Ladyblogger, Alya_

 

Marinette quickly locked her phone and shoved the device into her back pocket, paying full attention to the sidewalk in front of her as she rushed towards her parents bakery. Sneakers hitting the sidewalk, the sound like thunder compared to the quiet morning Paris street. _Drowsiness_

She had been up almost all night reading and rereading Alya’s latest Ladyblog post, missing Chat more every time she reread the article. Attempting to clear her head the night before, she had gone out as Ladybug and swung around the city, reliving all the memories she had with her leather clad companion. At about four in the morning she decided it would be a good idea to go to bed, even if it was for an hour or so, since she needed to be at her parents at six. Now, at almost seven, Marinette was rushing over to the side door of the bakery and bursting through the door to almost run into her father carrying a bag of flour.

“Sorry, Papa, I overslept a bit,” Marinette apologized, head bowed and hands clasped tightly together, feet planted firmly in the ground.

“Long night?” her father asked, lowering the bag off his shoulder onto the floor.

“Yeah…” Marinette said, glancing up towards her father, the tiredness present on her face.

“It’s okay, I know how hard you work here and at that fashion company. You look tired, so you can work the counter this morning.” Tom said, placing a sympathetic hand on his daughter’s shoulder before walking off to start another batch of pastries.

Marinette checked the time on her phone, and saw that there was about 15 minutes before the bakery opened. She decided to head upstairs to make a cup of coffee and see if her mother was awake.

Marinette padded up the stairs and opened the door, the smell of fresh croissants and coffee filling her lungs and pulling her into the room. She turned the corner and saw her mother pouring some coffee into two cups and a mug, as well as two plates of croissants and jam on the small table.

“Morning, Maman,” Marinette said, kissing her mother on the cheek before sitting down across from her. “What’s all this food for?”  
“Your father told me that you hadn’t come in on time, so I started brewing some coffee and sneaked some of the fresh croissants from today’s batch up here knowing that you would mostly likely come up here before opening. Even if you hadn’t, I would have brought it down for you and left it behind the counter where no one would see,” Sabine said, stirring some milk and sugar in the coffee cups and placing one in front of Marinette.

Marinette quickly ate her croissant and sipped at her coffee before thanking her mother and heading back downstairs to help in the bakery.

Hours passed, and the day seemed to be relatively slow, aside from the somewhat long delivery list that Tom was working on in the back. Marinette mainly sat in a chair behind the register sketching between customers. At about noon, Tom decided that she should make more croissants while he took a quick break taking over her position until the pastries were in the oven. As the croissant dough was mixing, the bell above the door rang and Tom smiled at the blond man in front of him, bent over looking intently at the pastries behind the glass partition.

“Well, haven’t seen you around here in awhile,” Tom smiled, a blond head popping up and looking at him. “What can I get you?”

“Um, could I have two croissants, and a pain-au-chocolat. Oh, and a baguette, please,” the man asked, pointing at each item as he talked. When he finished, he watched Tom smile at him and place all of his pastries into a pink box, placing a sticker with the bakery logo on it, not yet sealing its delicious contents inside.

“Will that be all today?” Tom asked, putting a baguette into a paper bag with another sticker and placing it on the counter with the unsealed pink box.

“Yes, sir.”

“That will be 7 euros, sir.”

The blond man pulled the required notes out of his wallet and placed them on the counter before smiling and taking the pink box and long paper bag. Just past the baker was the movement of a woman with short hair the color of the midnight sky getting some croissants ready to be put in the oven. The blond man didn’t know if he recognized the girl but smiled at the baker before taking his leave.

Marinette closed the oven door and turned towards the front of the bakery at the sound of bell a second time, indicating that someone had just left. Marinette looked past the glass to see the man’s short blond hair and grey suit walking away. He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint who exactly it was.

“Do you know who that was Papa?” Marinette asked, still looking towards the mysterious man now across the street.

“I think so, but I’m not absolutely sure,” Tom looked at the man for one final second before turning towards his daughter. “Are those croissants ready?”

“Yep, all ready and in the oven baking,” Marinette beamed, flour covering her shirt.

“Good job. You get cleaned up a little bit and come back out here to help me make some deliveries.”

* * *

 

Marinette stared at the blank page in front of her, pencil tapping the spine of the black sketchbook, unsure what to draw next. Hundreds of design ideas filled her head, but not one could really sink in and become the next fleshed out project inside the fashion-filled book. Tired from helping at her parents bakery the day before, Marinette couldn’t think without her mind wandering. Looking around at the office around her, Marinette couldn't draw any inspiration from how boring it was.

The office was minimalistic, almost empty. Mostly shiny, white walls to go with the shiny, white tiled floor. Small plants could be seen near fashion books and old magazines on the shelves, bringing color into the almost clinical room. The office held a few other interns with the same job as Marinette, so their desks added some color with the occasional picture or displayed piece somewhere in their designated area. All the corner desks faced each other, so each intern wouldn’t be stuck staring at a wall the whole day and could socialize with other interns, or that was the intent. Most of the interns stayed in their station, saying the occasional greeting and small talk before going back to their desk or leaving the room to go to lunch.

Marinette’s desk brought the most color into the room, which seemed like an overstatement to her. With only a few succulents and a couple pictures of her family, as well as another with her, Alya and Nino, that was the most color in the room besides her designs. Only three of her best designs at the time hung in frames next to a storage cabinet behind her, each containing a different color combination to try and bring a little life to the room. Marinette’s desk faced the window, and the full view of the Eiffel Tower could be seen. At times when Marinette would stay late, she could watch the lights on the tower be lit up for the entire city to see. Those lights would help light up the room and would inspire her on long nights of art block.

Marinette got up from her desk, deciding to go to the communal kitchen/break room to brew some coffee and discreetly people watch to try and drum up any inspiration to get her to work again. Heels clicking against the tile, Marinette noticed how empty some of the other offices were. Walking into the break room, the young designer found about a third of the staff on her floor and a couple others gossipping up a storm. Walking over to the coffee machine and opening the cabinet to grab the vanilla flavored instant coffee, Marinette overheard the discussion going on between her coworkers.

“Did you hear he’s back in town?”

“Heard he’s more handsome than ever!”

“Probably has a girlfriend…”

“If he doesn’t, I’m gonna try!”

“Hey, no one call dibs yet. No one knows if he’s just as much as a hardass as his father.”

“Oh that's true, don’t want a beautiful man who just grumbles and criticizes you all day”

“Hey, Marinette,”

The midnight-haired girl turned around, her grinning friend Lena looking back at her.

“Did you hear that Agreste’s son in back in town,” Lena’s voice almost a whisper as she leaned on the counter, facing towards Marinette, “Everyone’s going nuts because none of us have seen him yet, but are expecting him to be hotter than ever.”

“Are we sure any of us are _actually_ going to see him. I don’t think he wants to model anymore, so he might get a job somewhere else,” Marinette said, pouring water into the machine and pushing the button to start brewing.

“Nah, he’s apparently going to work in management and be in charge on a new line with a couple of us interns working under him.”

Marinette’s heart fluttered in her chest. She hadn’t seen the blond man since their time in high school, even then only talking to him occasionally since their best friends were dating and they had no choice but to hang out with each other. At that time, her juvenile crush was in full effect and she could barely get through a whole day without stuttering and getting flustered, even if she had gotten better since her middle school days. After four years of not seeing each other, though, Marinette had no idea how she would take it.

“I-I’m assuming almost every intern is trying to get the job then?” Marinette asked, wincing internally at her stutter as she poured her coffee into her mug.

“Ugh, yes,” Lena sighed, head hitting the cabinet behind her as she leaned back further. “I feel like I won’t make it since there are sooo many potential designers here. It would be a miracle if any of us newbies get in.”

“Yeah,” Marinette sighed, “I better get back to my desk. Don’t want Mr. Agreste coming in and seeing me not working. Would probably ruin my shot of getting into this new line.”

“Shit you’re right, I better head back too. If anything,” Lena whispered, nudging Marinette with her elbow, smiling, “him seeing everyone slacking off gossiping would push us up to getting in.”

“Haha, yeah,” Marinette said before waving goodbye to her friend and opening the door into the still quiet hallway.

Opening the door and turning the corner to head back to her office, Marinette looked up and saw the elevator door opening to find Gabriel Agreste walking out. The maroon tie within his grey suit was a large contrast to the all white hallway. Added with his tall stature, and it wouldn't be surprising that nearly everyone at the company was intimidated by the CEO. As he grew closer and closer with every step, Marinette looked up at him giving him a single smile as she passed him.

“Good afternoon, Miss Dupain-Cheng. How has your work been?”

Marinette turned quickly, yet not too quickly as to spill her coffee onto the contrasting white floor. Gabriel stood there with a flat look on his face, yet help confidence in his posture and eyes. The young designer took a few steps forward as to not be too far away from her boss during the upcoming discussion, but not too close to intrude on his personal space.

“My work has been lovely. Challenging, in the sense of putting a new design to paper, but aside from that I am still having a lovely time,” she said, straightening her posture and putting a small smile on her face.

“I see that you have gotten yourself a cup of coffee.” Gabriel said, glancing down to her mug before maintaining eye contact once again.

“Yes, I did. I wanted to get a slight change of space to draw some inspiration from, and then head back to my desk to continue working. I’m not tired or anything, coffee just seems to get my brain running and bring possible designs to mind,” Marinette said. Internally cringing from her possible rambling to her boss about coffee and why she wasn’t working, she hoped she wasn’t keeping him from anything important and just stood there with her smile, slightly faltering after her internal freakout.

“Sounds lovely. I hope to be seeing some outstanding designs from you soon.” Gabriel smiled at her, the emotion reaching his eyes before turning and walking away.

Releasing the breath she didn’t know she was holding, Marinette turned back towards her office to continue her sketching until the workday was over.

* * *

 

Ladybug soared through the night sky, clearing her mind of a certain blond man. She hadn’t been able to complete a single design that day and the frustration continued into now. Ladybug just wanted to tire herself until she could sit and watch her city until ultimately going to bed. Yo-yo wrapping and unwrapping around buildings, Ladybug eventually decided to land on a roof and look at the lights of the Eiffel Tower and the tourists walking down below enjoying the beauty of her city. Seeing the occasional smile of a tourist as they looked at a building or took a picture of the Tower, made Marinette’s heart swell. Knowing that the city was safe for tourists to truly have a vacation without care brought a warmth to her heart knowing all these years of protecting the beautiful city she lived in wasn’t for nothing. It truly wasn’t for nothing, as if Marinette had never received her miraculous form Master Fu all those years ago, she wouldn’t have this outlet and ability to protect the people she loves.

_Thump_

Marinette’s body tensed hearing the sound of someone up on the roof with her. Knowing it could probably be a resident of the apartment building she didn’t think of it too much, but was still aware of the presence behind her.

_Thump_

The sound got louder, sounding more and more like a footstep as Marinette thought about it. Resting her foot on the side of the building, readying herself to spring off if it turned out to be someone out to get her.

_Scrape_

Something dragging across the brick chimney forced Marinette to turn her head around. Seeing nothing, she looked around the surrounding area before turning back to the Tower. Hand hovering above her yo-yo, she was ready to escape from the mysterious being hiding behind the chimney.

Marinette could feel whatever was hiding getting closer to her, but couldn’t quite make out the sound of the footfalls to know where they were. Bringing one leg up to rest of the roof while her other was ready to push her away, Marinette tried to seem calm through the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. No one had bothered her over the past few years as she traveled during the night, so she didn’t quite know what to do or say to the citizen that was sneaking up behind her. The presence was so close her mouth went dry and the hair on the back of her neck seemed to stand up. Almost shaking, Marinette remembered that she was Ladybug, heroine of Paris, and she could take down anyone. Quickly standing and gripping her yo-yo, Marinette turned to face the mysterious being trying to sneak up on her.

What she wasn’t expecting was her partner she hadn’t seen in four years to be standing before her, a head taller than her, blond hair shorter yet still as wild as ever, slack jawed in front of her.

“Ladybug…” he whispered, eyes looking her up and down, uncertainty in his eyes.

“Chat,” Marinette said, hand covering her mouth, tears coming to her eyes as she saw her partner for the first time in years, memories flooding back to her of what he used to be while seeing him in front of her now.

“My Lady,” he said, rushing up to her, hands going straight to her cheeks wiping away her tears, “Don’t cry. I never want to see you cry, My Lady.”

“Chat,” Marinette laughed, looking down and away from his worried gaze, tears still streaming down her face. “I haven’t seen you in so long. I missed you so much.”

“I’m here now My Lady. I will never leave you again, okay?” Chat pulled her face up to look at his again, “I will be there for you always, from now on. I’m sorry I left, I didn’t have a choice, but I will never leave you again as long as I can control it.”

Marinette leaned into his touch, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment before pushing him away and slapping his arm.

“Ow,” Chat said, rubbing his arm, “What was that for?”

“For leaving me for _four years,_ you alley cat!” Ladybug said. “Do you know how worried I was you were never coming back! The only good thing was that akumas stopped shortly after you left.”

“The akumas stopped?” He asked. Ladybug nodded. “The akumas stopped! This is so exciting, Bugaboo. We can just patrol the city and enjoy it the way we always talked about!”  
Chat Noir picked Ladybug up into a hug and spun them around on the rooftop, laughter filling the air around them. Marinette wrapped her arms around her partner’s neck and smiled the hardest she had in years into his neck. After the spinning finished, they stood there, Ladybug still in her partner’s arms, legs bent up and lazily kicking as she hugged him.  
“I missed you so much, _mon minou_ ” Ladybug whispered into her partner’s neck.  
“I missed you too, My Lady.”

* * *

 

Marinette walked into the office building the next morning, tired from the night before but happier than ever to have seen her partner after all those years. As she neared her office she heard chatter going on down the hall. Opening the door, none of the other interns that shared the office with her were there, so she closed it and headed to the break room where almost every intern was standing talking about something exciting.

“Mari! You’ll never believe what just happened!” Lena said, jumping over to the blue haired girl. “Oh you look cute today.”

“Thanks,” Marinette replied, smiling at her friend. “What happened since it seems like you’ll explode if you hold it in any longer.”

“You’ll never believe it but,” Lena stopped and leaned in closer to the other intern, “Adrien Fucking Agreste is here today.”

“What?!” Marinette shrieked, heads turning in her direction from her sudden outburst. Apologizing, Marinette dragged her friend over to her shared office to talk more in private. Thanking the universe that Gabriel hadn’t seen her dragging her friend into her office, somewhere that her friend wasn’t allowed to for productivity reasons, Marinette closed the door and looked at her friend who wore a knowing smirk on her face.

“You wanna get with Adrien.” Lena said, confidence in her statement apparent on her face.

“W-what?! N-no,” Marinette said looking away, blush creeping up onto her face. “F-fine, I had a crush on him back in high school.”

“Who didn’t” Lena replied, leaning back onto Marinette’s desk and crossing her feet. “Don’t let that little crush hurt your ability to work with him, though.”

“Who said I was going to be working with him?” Marinette asked.  
“C’mon, you’re one of the best designers here, by far. Agreste _loves_ you. If you don’t get the job then none of us have hope. I just hope I get to be on the team with you.”

“Lena,” Marinette sighed, looking down at the watch on her wrist, “I think you gotta go back to your office. Someone in management might get upset that everyone is missing from their offices.”

“You’re right,” Lena said, uncrossing her feet and standing up. “Get to work young lady. Don’t want _your_ chances ruined from being a slacker.”

“You _and_ Alya on me about being a slacker, when I’m the hardest worker on this floor!” Marinette laughed, walking her friend to the door. “See you later Lena.”

Marinette walked back over to her desk opening her sketchbook and beginning to draw, inspiration from the night before filling her brain.

After hours of working, and the other interns finally entering the room to work, Marinette left to grab some coffee and continued sketching more designs. She managed to complete about 3 fully colored designs that she was happy with, and even started writing down possible fabric options before packing up her things to leave for the day.

After a fairly uneventful elevator ride down to the Lobby, Marinette was hit with dread when she looked outside the glass doors to find it pouring outside. None of the weather reports had said anything of rain, especially rain of that magnitude, so that just left the young designer holding her sketchbook trying to figure out a way home without getting her newly made designs ruined.

Wearing black pumps didn’t help with the possible running she would have to eventually do. Although she knew perfectly well how to run in heels, the heels she was currently wearing weren’t made for running and already hurt her feet just standing there for a minute. The black skirt that she was wearing that went a few inches above her knee wasn’t a good fashion choice for rain either, as it was flowy and could get easily blown up if a just of wind decided to come past. Added with her long sleeved, white lace blouse, she wasn’t going to be getting home dry unless she called for a cab, which she didn’t have the money for.

Sighing and heading outside underneath the small covering, Marinette decided to just cover what she could of her sketchbook with her arms and hold it as tightly as she could against her chest to keep it dry from the rain. Waiting until she had enough courage to go out, Marinette stood there watching the rain go down, the sound the only thing in the air other than the occasional car driving past. Other interns walked past opening their umbrellas, and giving her a quick glance before eventually walking away to their own homes.

Marinette pulled her phone out of her small black purse to try and ask Alya or Nino for a ride home. Opening her messages app, she started typing a message to Alya.

“It’s raining pretty hard, huh,” a man’s voice sounded off behind her.

“Yeah, it is. I’m trying to figure out a way home since no one said anything about rain today,” Marinette replied, continuing to type the message to her best friend and starting another one to said best friend’s boyfriend.

“Is that your sketchbook? I understand why you’d want a ride home rather than walking, since that could possibly ruin your designs.” The man continued.

“Yeah, I just finished a bunch today that I’m really proud of. If they got ruined I would have to completely redo them, and at that point I wouldn’t have the same inspiration that I did today.”

“Here do you want my umbrella?” the man asked.

“Oh no I couldn’t-” Marinette said, stopping as she saw who was holding the umbrella. Adrien Agreste, dressed in a similar grey suit as his father, a cerulean tie around his neck, umbrella in his hand ready to give to Marinette. He seemed to be in the same state of shock when he saw her, as her hair was in a high bun and not the twin ponytails they had been the last time they’d seen each other. They both looked each other over, a slight blush creeping over Marinette’s face as she looked away from him for a second. When she looked back, a slight blush had covered his face as well, and a smile began to creep up as he looked at her.

“Well, this is familiar, Mari.”

**Author's Note:**

> updates might be slow as I have finals coming up, but don't worry they will come
> 
> follow me on tumblr at cuddlequxxn (same as here lmao) for updates for this fic and others that I write. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos and much appreciated!!!! 
> 
> ***update AN AMAZING COVER ART FOR THE FIC WAS MADE AND I CANT STOP SMILING [ ITS BY TUMBLR USER DEUSBEX ](http://cuddlequxxn.tumblr.com/post/155311999474/how-they-perceive-you-chapter-1)


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